Chinese IPOs: the envy of the region

Despite the recent setbacks, experts remain tentatively optimistic about both fund management and new issues.

By

Rick Marsland

January 12, 1998 5:00 p.m. GMT

In mid-December, China National Aviation Company (CNAC), the commercial arm of China's aviation regulator, pressed ahead with a US$500m initial public offering of its shares in Hong Kong.

The IPO had originally been postponed two months before, owing to the crisis of confidence in the markets, so it was seen as a litmus test of the post-turmoil appetite for new issues in the region. In the event, the IPO, sharply scaled back from the original projections, was oversubscribed 18 times - concrete proof that shares with solid prospects...